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Moonrunners
Moonrunners is a feature film released 14 May 1975 by United Artists. The story and characters were reworked into the television show, The Dukes of Hazzard. Summary The Balladeer introduces and comments on the story of cousins, Grady and Bobby Lee Hagg, who run bootleg liquor for their uncle Jesse Hagg of Shiloh County. Uncle Jesse is a Baptist who knows the Bible better than the local preacher. He has been a widower since Aunt Libby died ten years ago. He still makes liquor according to his "granddaddy's granddaddy's" recipe in stills named Molly and Beulah. Every drop is aged two years, and bottled in glass, never plastic. The Haggs have been making their recipe since before the Revolutionary War, and Jesse only sells to a friend in nearby Florence to ensure that his liquor is never blended with any other. Bobby Lee is a smart-mouthed schemer, named for Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Bobby Lee is placed in the Pikkens County jail for a bar fight at the Boar's Nest. On his way home, he helps Beth Ann Eubanks, who is on the run from family trouble in Mississippi. Uncle Jesse lodges her at his home, and Lee courts her. Grady is a laconic "Romeo" who drives their 1955 Chevrolet stock car #54, named Traveller after General Lee's horse. Grady probably has a number of children around Shiloh and Tennessee. The cousins take Beth to the next race at the local track. The other stock car drivers include "good ol' boy" Zeebo, and Zeebo's lackey Cooter Pettigrew. Zeebo, driving #31, and Cooter, driving #28, team up to beat Grady in the race, leading to a moonlit bootlegger road race between Bobby Lee and Zeebo. The county boss is Jake Rainey, a friend of Jesse's from the old days when they both bootlegged for Jesse's father in 1934, and owner of the local bar and brothel. Jake has control of all the other moonshine in the county, and sells it to the New York Syndicate (mob). He needs Jesse's supply to fill an order, but Jesse will not sell to Jake since Jake would mix it with lesser quality liquor. To get at Jesse's supply, Jake uses Sheriff Rosco Coltrane, to harass the cousins. At the same time he uses Zeebo, and Reba (Jake’s wife who is having an affair with Grady) to goad the boys into a trap. During these events, Uncle Jesse calls Jake "hog" (effectively making Jake "Boss Hogg") as a put-down. Uncle Jesse dies after attempting to make a moonshine run. The cousins, who are on probation and cannot own guns, use a bow with explosive arrows to put Jake Rainey's moonshining factory out of business. Cast * James Mitchum as Grady Hagg * Kiel Martin as Bobby Lee Hagg * Arthur Hunnicutt as Uncle Jesse Hagg * Chris Forbes as Beth Ann Eubanks * George Ellis as Jake Rainey * Pete Munro as Zeebo * Joan Blackman as Reba Rainey * Waylon Jennings as the Balladeer * Spanky McFarlane as Precious, Jake's bartender * Joey Giordello as a Syndicate man * Happy Humphery as Tiny, a Syndicate man * Bill Gribble as Cooter Pettigrew * Bruce Atkins as Sheriff Rosco Coltrane * Ben Jones as Agent Fred from Chicago Category:Films Category:The Index of Hazzard